RaceDepartment News EditorStaffPremium

Welcome to part 2 of our recent Vae Victis Games exclusive interview, where RaceDepartment ask community generated questions to the people behind Racecraft.

Part 2 features discussion around the potential for DLC release content in Racecraft, track building toolkits and much more! If you missed part 1, catch up here, otherwise read on for part 2 below...RD: Will racecraft be a one-time purchase, or will it come with DLC´s and if it´s the latter, what price range will the DLC´s come in?

LG: We’re still debating on this, so I can’t give you a proper answer at the moment.

RD: Since the game is generating a new track each time, how long will it take to actually generate that track?

LG: Track generation takes from 15 to 30 seconds, but we’re working to make it a bit faster, even if generation and loading times are on par with other racing games which are using static assets.

RD: it occurred to me that the ideal track making game should have a "Track Building Toolkit" that works on real life terrain.

For instance, I could take the area outside my city and bring it up in Google earth. GE would show me existing roads, asphalted and dirt, as well as buildings, shopping malls etc. Then the game would allow me to build tracks or dirt roads on the Real Life topography of the area. I can then choose to build a circuit or a simple point to point stage in asphalt, cement, gravel or plain dirt.

Additionally, I could do the same with Urban environment. If you follow Assetto Corsa, you might have seen a track called "Lucca" it's an excellent track one of my compatriots built in his hometown completely virtually. How much fun would it be to be able to do the same in any city? To create a GoKart track in your neighbourhood or a GP track in your city's downtown?

Such a system would allow players to bring up locales where Rally stages are already being held and build their own stages trying to follow the existing roads, or create their own stages but following the real life terrain.

We all know a road we like to drive in, how cool would it be to set up Hillclimb races on that road? Or turn it into a stage for your Rally or make it part of a street circuit for GT3 cars?

A game like that would be awesome and I don't think the technology is going to be a limiting factor. Resources, cost and demand are more likely to make it a pipedream then a lack of technology.

Do you think your procedural track building technology could, one day, create something like that?

LG: As you say, it’s not a technology issue, but just something related to costs and demand. In my opinion, this feature is definitely feasible, but it would require so much R&D that could only be undertaken by a bigger studio with higher financial resources. But I agree with you on the fact it would be really cool to have such a feature in a racing game.

Maybe if your game would not be able to support such a massive undertaking, how about building a "Track Generator" that can then export the resulting track to be used in your game, Assetto, rF2 and other games? That would allow for a more reasonable price point (for you. Meaning higher price), keeping your game simpler and more affordable. Those interested in it can then purchase the advanced track builder.

We are planning to build a track editor, because that is definitely part of the game, as we see it, but we’ll have to understand if creating a track exporter for rFactor 2, for example, is technically and financially viable for us. It’s not a core feature, as far as we see that, so we need to think about that before we start developing it.

RD: How about creating a pacenote system that allows for multiple random voice calls? That too, should not be too hard conceptually. Once the track or stage is build, each segment is categorized by distance, type of terrain, type of turn, etc.

It should not be too hard to create a script and have a co-driver read it so that multiple ways to say "Left Five, don't cut" are enunciated. Some would be inserted randomly, taking into account the last time that phrase was used and selecting it from the other random 4 recordings, but if the car is going too fast for the terrain for instance, then the pacenote software algorithm would switch to various versions of the same command but picked from the "concerned" category, up to the "terrified" category.

LG: We will have the classic visual aids and ideal line, which are generated for each track. Procedural pacenotes would be really useful in case of a rally-themed Racecraft and there are obviously a few ways to implement them. But we’ll think again about that if we have the chance to work on such a product.

RD: As for the Random tracks is their a size limit / different surface types that affect grip levels on increase tire ware this was a factor with some race tracks in the past.

LG: The actual length limit is 8 km, but we’d like to extend it to 10 km. We have different kinds of surfaces, so tire ware will also depend on this element.

RD: Also what types of tracks looks like circuits for the most part no point to point planed will it generate street tracks in the style of Monaco or other big street based layouts?

LG: The generation of Monaco-style tracks is something we’d like our engine to perform as long as it’s finished in its core. We already have some elements in place, but we’re completely missing the city building feature, at the moment.

RD: Am I correct in thinking that you are using the Netcar pro code for the core of the game has I have read within other forums.

LG: Yes, you’re right. The NetKar Pro code is the foundation of our physics system, but we heavily modified that over the years. If you’re familiar with FPS games, think about what Valve did with the Quake engine developing Half-Life. We behaved in a really similar way.

RD: Will you be able to develop you race car over a given season like major parts up-grade based on some sort of random generation code like the tracks , this could lead to improving or not improving your cars performance as happen in real racing?

LG: That’s what we’d like to achieve with crafting, which won’t be, of course, procedurally generated. Your engineering skills will affect your car performances, just as it happens in real racing.

RD: will there be pits stops fuel usage/car setup/tyre wear?

LG: Yes, absolutely. All these elements will affect your racing during long strategic session weekends.

RD: Does the game support 3DVision ?

LG: No, we will support VR, starting with HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. We don’t expect to support 3D Vision.

RD: In a saturated niche market, what will this title offer to standout and separate it from its competitors?

LG: In our opinion, there are several elements allowing Racecraft to stand out from its competitors: the procedural generation of tracks, the sandbox element, the crafting and the eSports-focus. We think we can catch several types of racing lovers with our game.

RD: Last and by no means least, and yes no one ever answers this one... how about a nice juicy RaceDepartment exclusive? Something about Vae Victis / Racecraft that no one knows? Go on....

LG: A popular pilot played Racecraft and really liked it, but unfortunately we can’t say who he is. But we’re just incredibly happy about the fact he’s playing the game and loving it!

Racecraft is a Procedural technology racing game currently in Steam Early Access. Check out our Racecraft sub forum for more news and information on this unique racing game.

Have you enjoyed our new exclusive interview? Does the responses in our above Q&A give you more interest in purchasing the game? Do you play already and what do you think of it? Got more questions? Post them below!

How do we know you aren't going to abandon this game like you did with you last?
You made people pay for you last through greenlight. Then gave it away for free. Then charged the people that had already given you money for the DLC.

Thanks but I don't think I can give vae victus, especially in early access considering what they did last time.

P.S. If this was actully an interview an not a blatent advert you would grill them over topics like this because you are supposed to reprosent the community

How do we know you aren't going to abandon this game like you did with you last?
You made people pay for you last through greenlight. Then gave it away for free. Then charged the people that had already given you money for the DLC.[

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Hello fossala,
we already explained several times we made several mistakes with Victory. And one of those mistakes was putting the game in Early Access when it was almost complete, while we should have released it as a full game.

I think we made up giving away Racecraft for free to everyone who spent money for Victory and I don't think you see many developers around behaving this way.

We still don't know if Racecraft will have DLCs, but if it will, everyone who bought the Deluxe Version of Victory, will receive that for free, as it happened with the standard game.

About abandoning the game, well, if anyone has doubts, he could wait until the full release to purchase it.

Mate, read the article first before coming across as a bit of a..... (self moderated that word).

This is a Q&A with questions from the community. So blame yourself if you dont like it. Or better still, dont read it and go away.

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First of all, I didn't use RD when the questions where being asked. Secondly I appologise for saying that you didn't ask good enough questions as it was the users who asked them. Finally I don't think that speaking to people in that tone is very nice just because they question motives. You could of got your point across without being crass. I'll stick around for a while and hope my experiance here is better that this thread.